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OOC Information
IC Information
Name: Hyoubu Kyousuke
Canon: Zettai Karen Children, manga version
Gender: Male
Age: Approximately 83, looks 15 - 16.
History: The Ghosts of Espers Past
Personality: To say that Hyoubu Kyousuke is a contradictory man wouldn't be far off the mark, for he's lived a long life and a long life comes with many things, among them life-changing incidents that completely turn one's outlook completely on its heels.
Most people only know of him as a dangerous criminal, a powerful esper who has sworn vengeance against Normals and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. While this is something he says frequently and he's brutally murdered no less than 20 people among other crimes, it should be noted that at no point does Hyoubu attack an innocent person even if they're Normals. A short arc has him selling Neo-Clear (Like nuclear weapons, only eco-friendly) weapons to a terrorist group after he escapes prison, but while he does smile over the thought of many people dying he also remarks that the terrorists are so stupid to have so much money, only to spend it on killing people. The same arc also has him tearing through their base afterwards because they hurt a little girl, and while he says that they have to die for spoiling his good mood after having a flower sold to him it says a lot about Hyoubu that he cared enough about a Normal child to effectively cut off all future funding from terrorists.
The truth is that Hyoubu was made to be aware of the cruelty of others far too early when he was judged as a monster and shot by his Normal commander, a man he had loved as a father. He's lived all his life seeing how espers are treated by Normals and he had once been a bright-eyed optimist who thought that he could make espers be accepted as people, something he felt all too personally as he was beaten by his late father for using his powers after his esper mother died in a tragic accident. The combination of the two left him with a low sense of self-worth, as is evidenced by how eager his younger self was to please everyone whether it's humoring his sister Fujiko for the 500th time or doing his best for his commander, who told him once that his powers were what the English considered as a present and that he would always be accepted as he was within the ESP unit, that he could be anything and go anywhere.
Speaking of the present, Hyoubu lives life in a way that differs from many in the sense that he seems to always be looking to the future or reflecting on the past, never quite being in the present. He constantly calls The Children by their future titles as an example and treats their supervisor Minamoto with hostility for another, all because he's seen what they'll become and do in the future. At the same time he's is also a man given to past sentiments as he has a long memory, even once helping an esper he recognizes as a Comerican soldier from World War 2 because he recalls crashing the man's plane and causing his esper abilities to activate.
This unique outlook of his manifests in many ways through canon, such as when he constantly reminds the people of P.A.N.D.R.A that The Children will lead them someday or he speaks of himself being a ghost of the past, and it's impossible to understand why without knowing his history. Having been enlisted in the army since he was 7 and seeing a prediction afterwards that would show a war-torn Tokyo and a sad woman apologizing to him for being unable to do anything, it can be said that the young boy has never quite known what it means to live life as it is since he was fighting even back then to make a world a happier place for espers. And as for his remarks about being a ghost of the past, it has been said before that he stopped growing when he was shot- indeed, Hyoubu makes it a point to keep his physical body at the age when he died and the high school uniform he wears is in dedication to his fallen comrades; he had been loaned one such uniform once for he didn't have proper mourning clothes, and he was noted to not have prepared any in the hopes that no one else would die. He hasn't stopped mourning for them since then, and it's notable that one of the only characters he considers to be his friend is a flying squirrel called Momotarou, who's also from World War 2 and a victim of experimentation.
It's hard for people who are not familiar with his entire life's story to understand and sympathize with him though, for one simple reason: Hyoubu is also a troll, a major annoyance, a stalker, a sadist, an immature child and a generally terrible person.
One of the first things he declares when he meets Minamoto is his intention to take Kaoru as a bride and his antics only get more outrageous after that, ranging from hypnotizing Minamoto into seeing The Children as adult women to rile him up, to cheerfully tucking into duck confit and gushing about how good it is in front of a starving Minamoto and Sakaki while he's making himself comfortable in his ship several thousand miles away. He delights in making people beg for his help too and makes no secret out of how he enjoys seeing people being humiliated by him, but nothing is ever quite simple with Hyoubu and he does help said people in the end, even if his brand of help is typically twisted and no one's quite sure if they still want it after he's done with them.
Hyoubu is also nearly constantly hanging around The Children or watching his people conducting missions, and he's only all too happy to poke his nose into places where he doesn't belong so long as something interesting is there. As he's once said to the terrorists he later killed he'll go anywhere he likes and kill anyone he dislikes, something which he took pleasure in by lovingly describing the ways in which a minute change in a human's body is enough to kill them. Pictures of the men he murdered decades ago include gruesome details such as being teleported through a pole, and one of Hyoubu's favorite tactics involves trapping people in layers of hypno, making them believe that they'd defeated him before finishing them off. All of these sound much like describing an immature child with a twisted personality, and to a large extent Hyoubu is indeed just that. He's known to act on his whims more than enough times to frustrate his followers, such as when he randomly decides to borrow a Roviet hospital after telling his right-hand man to prepare his ship for a surgery.
It can't be stated enough that Hyoubu is a massive hypocrite, on top of everything else. He absolutely hates having people do to him what he does to them, is quick to get angry when he gets exactly what he deserves for his pranks, has little issue criticizing people for doing what he does, and he also does bizarre things like not killing the Normals who tried to kill the espers underneath his care in spite of repeating over and over again that Normals can die for all he cares. Yet the biggest hypocrisy of all involves his subordinates, who he claims to trust but who are kept in the dark in regards to his darker actions; as an example, not even his three executives knew he was going to tackle Black Phantom on his own until it had already happened and the only one who happened to hear about it was knocked out by him before she could attempt to stop him.
Observant people might notice that his actions have a certain consistency to them, in that they seem to be largely reactionary, involve high risk to himself and stem from a lack of trust. Hyoubu hung onto his commander's words as a child which couldn't be more different from his current self, being that he's now a highly skilled hacker who can break through any survelliance system and he mentions that it's frightening how Phantom Daughter was able to conceal herself so well all while treating him like a child. Being betrayed as he did and losing nearly all his friends within a short time has left Hyoubu with severe emotional scars that continue to hurt even today, and indeed it makes far more sense to look at the way he acts from the point of view of a frightened child than that of an angry one, as espers in his world are known to construct mental barriers and Hyoubu happens to be one of the most powerful espers in his world.
Fear has been a constant negative in Hyoubu's life and it shows particularly in the way he treats Minamoto. He's happiest when Minamoto is chiding him and calling him names, while paradoxically getting angry when the man praises him even if he just said that he was being a nice person by doing some good deed. The reason for this is due to Minamoto being more than just the man who shoots Kaoru after taking care of her for 10 years- he also reminds Hyoubu of Saotome in a way, and in his mind they're so similar that he happens to get a nightmare when Minamoto touches him once while he's unconscious, monologuing afterwards that he probably had that dream because of being touched and that it genuinely pisses him off. He's also said to Kaoru that 'the man who shot him' said that he would always had a place to belong, and in the end all of them are the same- Normals who would treat espers with care, only to make use of them before killing them.
It's also led to Hyoubu developing no sense of self-worth besides boastful bragging about his abilities and mocking people by calling them things like 'Idiot four eyes' and 'Quack', since there was no one to help him love himself as a person and he's always been used in one way or another. He's been called out numerous times for risking his life but everything falls on deaf ears since Hyoubu insists that he's doing everything for the future. He tends to mention too that he's but a ghost of the past who's only living until now to accomplish his goals whatever they are, and he also knows sadly that the future itself may not have a place for him as he's old and he's never once seen himself in the predictions shown to him. Hyoubu is notorious for being adamant about who he is in this regard, and a chance remark by a left-behind figment of his friend Utsumi about how even ghosts need a future has him dismissing said friend, remarking that they're not that much different from each other.
This in itself leads back to the tragedy where Hyoubu was shot dead by his commander, his time having 'stopped' since then. He doesn't consider himself as someone who's alive in the figurative sense and as such feels that it'd be better if he's the only one who needs to die instead of the espers who live in the present, and a direct contrast can be seen between him and his sister Fujiko as she's constantly changing her clothes from one appearance to another while he's maintained the same haircut and black school uniforms for decades, grousing whenever his executives try to badger him into putting on something new. Though Fujiko mentions that they're both ghosts of the past who don't know what else to do, the most significant difference between them is that she chose to forgive the people who ordered her unit executed so that she could prevent such a thing from happening again while Hyoubu could not, having chosen to stay as he was, full of anger, grief and regrets.
Yet for the hatred that he has for the world that continues to discriminate against espers simply for having powers, it would be far too simplistic to say that this is all there is to know about him. Most people know only of P.A.N.D.R.A as a criminal esper organization, but bad news travels quickly and it could be said that P.A.N.D.R.A is more of a safe haven for espers to be who they truly are, as opposed to being trodden on by society, especially considering that Hyoubu invests a lot of money into saving orphaned and abandoned esper children and that he takes great risks to get them to safety. Rumors also abound that he rescues them just to make use of them, but this is again false and Hyoubu offers each child a chance to either take revenge or live a normal life, and that he'll support them no matter what they choose.
Kaoru remarks once that "Kyousuke looks so sad...but he has such kind eyes", and for better or worse this kindness is the side that the espers under his care are used to seeing. All the kids under his care seem to like him very much and it's only when they grow up that he starts teasing them lightly, but even then never to the extent he'd do to someone he doesn't quite like. Helping to save and raise espers appears to be one of the few things Hyoubu can find true joy in besides reading, playing games and flying, and it's easy to see why since all of P.A.N.D.R.A's espers have come from worse conditions than he did as a child yet they've become reasonably well-adjusted, if a bit too liberal with using their powers since his rules are lax and they don't obey the rules of society being members of a criminal organization. Even Fujiko is forced to concede that Hyoubu seems changed somewhat when he talks about how he feels seeing his kids wanting to go to a Normal school: From there it's clear that he wouldn't mind seeing a future where Normals and espers can live together peacefully, but that he will ensure that the espers win if that conflict is unavoidable and he honestly can't believe that such a dream can be achieved.
His actions still speak otherwise though, especially in regards to Black Phantom. He fully agrees that their services are wanted by many and that they provide something that people want, only to wind up smashing much of their goods because there's little that he hates more than seeing espers being abused even if getting rid of Black Phantom means preventing the rise of the Queen he saw many years back. As much of a vindictive bastard Hyoubu can be at the worst of times, this single action proves that he's selfless and he would gladly put aside his petty little conflicts and even his war if it meant that espers could finally be free. This is again confirmed by how he changes his mind and entrusts his life to Feather shortly before being killed, likely realizing that the someone who had arranged for her to return to the past had thought the same way too as no one but himself could have come up with such a plan.
In the end it's this kindness that led to the esper dolphins showing Hyoubu the vision of the future many years, for the variation of the future where he swears revenge on Normals held an interesting thing which they would come to know as P.A.N.D.R.A. The myth of Pandora states that a woman by the name of Pandora opened a box that she was not supposed to touch and released the world's evils, shutting the box again only to hear a tiny voice calling out. That voice belonged to none other than Hope, a a beautiful force that could heal the injuries left by the evils that came before it. Saotome may have only seen the potential evil lurking in Hyoubu once upon a time because that was all he chose to see but that is simply not the truth about Hyoubu Kyousuke, for even today he lives not for anger or for revenge, but to give hope to espers and to put a smile on the sad face of the Queen who has had his heart from the start.
-- Relationships (A summary, at least) --
Akashi Kaoru aka 'Queen of Catastrophe':
No one's more important to Hyoubu than his Queen, and it's not hard to see why when he's known about her since he was a child. The tricky part is in sorting out whether he likes Kaoru more as a child much like himself who loves all espers or if he worships her because he sincerely believes that she'll succeed in saving all the espers where he failed to do so, but the one thing that's certain is that he hates the thought of hurting her to the point of nearly getting himself killed by taking one of her blows head-on when she cried upon seeing him attempting to kill his sister.
Kaoru is likewise the most welcoming member of The Children when it comes to him, being one of the only people currently who calls him by his first name and generally more forgiving of his antics than anyone else. While this can be attributed to her status as the Queen of espers which predisposes her to loving all of them, she's also noticed that he seems sad yet has kind eyes.
Things are a bit more complicated than that though, and while Hyoubu certainly doesn't have questionable thoughts for Kaoru he's modified her memory once when she happened to help P.A.N.D.R.A only to see them destroying a plane and there's the matter of him always calling her the Queen in spite of her insistence that she's not going to lead P.A.N.D.R.A- Then again, who knows what lies ahead?
The Children in general (Kaoru, Aoi, Shiho):
While Hyoubu's just fond of espers in general he also happens to hold The Children in especially high regard since they're destined to be the future rulers of espers, and due to this he's honestly kind of a doormat to them. Aoi and Shiho are more suspicious of him since he's done many questionable things to Minamoto, but in some senses they also know that he really doesn't intend to harm them and likes them- besides this, there's been moments where he's been willing to show them things Minamoto wouldn't or couldn't since he believes that children should be allowed to mature and it's not good to keep them completely sheltered.
Oh, also he took them to a theme park once and it didn't end very well.
Tsubomi Fujiko:
The long and short of it is that they have a love-hate relationship, not the least as their respective groups oppose one another. Hyoubu's always considered Fujiko to be an annoying older sister from the time they met since she was constantly bullying him and pulling him around, but he likes that she's simply being honest with herself and he does say to her that the memories of the time they had together are ones he considers precious even now- even when he did attempt to kill her once, Hyoubu makes it no secret that he won't make her death be painful and he's aware that Fujiko would have done the same were she in his place since their ideological differences have grown far apart.
Another interesting thing about their relationship is that Hyoubu still calls Fujiko by her given name while she calls him by his surname or full name instead of his first name as she used to: She'd promised him once that they would always be together, but his action of murdering B.A.B.E.L's staff is something she considers to be a betrayal and she can only distance herself by not using his first name: Furthermore, while Fujiko still believes Hyoubu can be saved she can't allow herself to grow soft on him when her failure to rescue him back then still weighs heavily on her, remembering the sweet child he used to be.
Koichi Minamoto:
Hyoubu started out really hating Minamoto thinking that he was just another Saotome in the making, but his feelings would change gradually when repeated attempts to tempt Minamoto into doing something bad failed, even resulting in him making a lifetime offer to reverse Minamoto to the age of 12 once so that they could avert the prediction of him shooting Kaoru. That being said little love is lost between the two as Hyoubu happens to enjoy harassing Minamoto all the time and Minamoto happens to hate being harassed by Hyoubu, but as time passes by Hyoubu is beginning to find it hard to justify the things he does to help Minamoto when he shouldn't want to do so by logic, which basically means that he ends up harassing the man even more since he can't figure out why he's helping a Normal four-eyes idiot beyond The Children liking him so much.
It should also be noted that Minamoto is the only one who gets hit by Hyoubu for saying something nice to him, again largely a violent reaction since it reminds Hyoubu of his former commander...or you could call it tsundere, because it honest to goodness is literally that.
Momotarou:
Not actually a person, but an esper flying squirrel! He and Momotarou have gotten along nicely from the start as Momotarou was also betrayed during World War 2 and Hyoubu trusts Momotarou so much that Momotarou's also one of the few characters to call him Kyousuke, and the two are frequently seen together whether they're searching for something interesting, bickering or are contemplating the past together.
P.A.N.D.R.A in general:
Arguably Hyoubu's greatest pride. He especially treasures the kids and is genuinely happy when playing with them, and he differs from a lot of parents in being fairly liberal about how they live. He also refuses to take them into battle and only teaches them how to use their powers so that they can eventually master it.
As for his top executives Magi, Momiji and Yo, Hyoubu trusts them a lot more than everyone else but he still leaves them in the dark about certain plans. He also likes teasing them and making fun of them, because a family's no fun if you can't tease your relatives.
The former ESP unit and Saotome:
Not much to be said except that Hyoubu really misses them and he still carries the burden of their deaths, fondly recalling how they'd thought they could be anything and go anywhere when he had been a much innocent boy.
Saotome though. To cut a long story short Hyoubu loved the man with all his heart until that led to him getting shot, and he still hates everything to do with Saotome even now.
Powers/Abilities:
Hyoubu is a high-level multiple-power esper, and his abilities are as follows:
Psychokinesis: Essentially the ability to manipulate physical matter by applying psychic force, psychokinesis has a very wide range of application, ranging from creating a shield to protect one from blasts to allowing a high-level psychokinesis user to defy gravity, allowing them to fly.
Hyoubu is noted to be extremely gifted and precise with this ability, to the point that he can retain his youth by reversing the telomeres in his DNA.
Hypno: The ability to create illusions and affect another person's senses- at high levels, hypno users can also take over a person’s perceptions, as this ability also works on altering chemicals within the target’s body. Hypno also has a wide range of application, from allowing its user to disguise themselves to sealing a person’s memories.
It should be noted that hypno is more effective against people with negative emotions or when the victim is shown what they want to see, and it’s only half as effective against a strong-willed person or a person being shown something contrary to how they’d act.
It’s also possible to trap a person in multiple layers of hypno illusions ala Inception, and this is one of Hyoubu’s favorite tactics.
Teleportation: The most advanced psychic ability, which allows an esper to calculate their coordinates and instantaneously move through space to reach their location. Teleporters also possess high spatial cognizance, and as such can locate hidden objects even without being able to see it.
Psychometry: The ability to scan one’s surroundings and analyze every detail about an object or person through touch, such as memories and thoughts. This ability also allows psychometry users to attune themselves to an object, instantly learning how to use said object to the best of its ability, and they can additionally ‘dive’ into a person’s memories.
Telepathy: The ability to read and transmit thoughts through means other than conventional communication. Line of sight is apparently needed for Hyoubu to read a person’s thoughts and he can only read surface-level thoughts, but he can do it over a long distance and additionally communicate telepathically to a non-telepath if they’re in contact with him.
Pyrokinesis: As it says on the tin, the ability to generate and manipulate fire.
Electrokinesis: The ability to generate and manipulate electricity, particularly gifted users can also use it to heal themselves from certain injuries and speed up healing by manipulating electric currents within their body.
Bodily control: An off-shoot of Hyoubu’s psychokinesis, this kicks in passively when his vital functions drop (Like if say he’s knocked out) and prevents his physiological functions from being cut off entirely to an extent. He can also use this actively to fix injuries such as cracked ribs.
Besides this he’s been shown to be capable of absorbing the abilities of other espers, providing two conditions are fulfilled: One, that they have a close bond with him. Two, that they must have died in front of him.
Keepsakes/Mementos:
- Uniforms of this kind
- A worn pocket watch, left by his late father
- A notebook detailing the records of his late mother, particularly in regards to her psychic abilities
- A pod that should contain the brain of a dead dolphin, only it’s empty
- A tin of Sakuma drops, along with assorted forms of candy
- A photo of him with his former comrades from the ESP squad
- A piece of headgear with goggles broken on the right side, which belonged to his squad leader
- Books, especially that relating to psychic studies, physics, biology, history, mystery and science fiction
- Photos of the P.A.N.D.R.A members at various ages, all depicting occasions such as birthdays
Sample:
Hyoubu had loved the idea of flying since he was a child and it was no different today, not even when the fate of the world was at stake. If at anything he would say that only made things more interesting, with the joy of battle being one of the few pleasures he could have nowadays.
Countless helicopters hovered behind the esper and his companion Feather, ready to nullify everyone's powers at a single command from the boy in front of him. Gilliam, son of Black Phantom, an international organization that brainwashed espers and cloned them for a living...he was still smiling fearlessly even though killing Hyoubu would mean killing himself too.
And Hyoubu fully intended on wiping that smug smile off his face.
"I see, so I'll die too if I have all psychic powers sealed off. But...what do you plan on doing?" There was some more pointless lines from Gilliam about how his life meant nothing in comparison to his goals and Feather's surprised face at his grin, both things that gave Hyoubu just enough time to devise a plan.
"Then...I will give you pain that makes death pale in comparison," he replied, smirking as he did so. What came next was laughably predictable and to be expected of dull Normals who knew little of combat and grew to be overly dependent on expensive tools, cries of activating the limiters being contradicted by orders to remain on standby until further instruction. Hyoubu floated lazily towards the other man while his soldiers were busy arguing, which prompted Gilliam to ask if he was going to be tortured.
"One wrong move and the ECMs will-"
"No, no," Hyoubu interrupted, coming to a stop right behind Gilliam. "It's just that your eyebrows are so thick and disgusting." There was a saying that insults weren't insults if it were true, and the comment was soon to be followed by a snide remark about how Gilliam's hair must have been done by a barber who could barely contain his laughter while lying about the haircut. "And those ridiculous clothes! What are you, a groom?" Hearing Gilliam's counters to his remarks only made him laugh even more, all while ignoring that last remark about how he had no right to make fun of anyone else's fashion sense. Even Gilliam's men seemed to agree with his observations, but as amusing as it was the banter was really just the opening act.
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Ah, the boy was clearly keen on ending this quickly while he still had the advantage, but Hyoubu had better ideas than to simply let himself get captured. The jokes were simply a means to getting close to Gilliam, and he never once let the other's expression out of his sight as he spoke next. "You said your life has no value compared to your dream, but that's not true...is it? To be more accurate, isn't it that your life has no value compared to that of your little sister?" Gone was the mocking tone he'd used earlier, replaced by something more low and sinister. It was simply all too easy for him to picture, for the sister was the one with truly impressive hypnosis abilities while her brother could only manage considerable power when linked to other espers. Yet it was the dull emptiness of Gilliam's eyes that revealed more about him than anything else he had said. How could he not know what lay behind those eyes after all, when it was so similar to that of his own- dead eyes that hid the insanity of those who tried their hardest to be valued when they were clearly not wanted, with one having his wings broken and the other yearning to fly when he never had any?
The esper moved even closer so that only Gilliam could hear his next words, and as he leaned in to whisper he could have looked for all the world as if he were having an intimate conversation with a lover. "You only got this chance at commanding the center stage because Yuuri ran away, didn't you? You are nothing more than a worthless esper, who was only of any use after plenty of money and technology was poured into you...my intuition tells me that there was one thing you were often called as you grew up...useless." He left no pauses in between to be interrupted and the last word was said more loudly than the others so it couldn't be simply ignored. As he was he didn't want that word to be ignored since Gilliam was absolutely useless and no amount of abusing or cloning espers was going to change the fact that he would always be playing second fiddle to his sister. "It's quite sad, really. The one thing you truly wanted was-"
"Kill him. Kill him now! Activate the ECMs! Do it!"
The effects of the ECMs were immediate, with Feather crying out before being forced to return to her crystal form. That too was within Hyoubu's calculations, and his head had cleared enough from his earlier rage for him to reach out and grab the crystal even as he was falling, unable to sustain his flight with his powers severely limited. It was strange how the sensation of falling should have made him feel helpless and yet he was rarely so sure of himself as he was right now, at this very moment in the present.
Feather...no, Queen! I've changed my mind. I need your help now. I leave my life, and the new future to you! The words were transmitted telepathically along with his thought waves and personality, for Hyoubu also knew that Feather must have had guidance from a certain someone to have made it into the past and he could count on that person to have taught her what to do next. There was no time to reflect past that though, for he found himself being grabbed by Gilliam soon after.
"Die! Dieeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Hyoubu knew that sentiment all too well, unable to turn away from seeing that crazed expression even as certain death awaited below them in the form of a lightning rod. There was a certain irony in dying to something so mundane after countless people had tried to kill him over the years and had failed, but there was also no time left for quips, not when he had to get a certain annoyance out of the way first.
"Cool your jets, boy," he said, grabbing Gilliam's arm and holding him just out of reach from the lightning rod. "You need to...live a bit longer." For all the cruel words he might have said, the esper truly pitied him as he and his sister had never known any love, only the cruel and twisted manipulation of an adult- Esper or not, enemy or not, there was little satisfaction in killing someone who didn't even realize how empty his life was. And that was all he could manage before gravity caught up to him and he wound up on the sharp end of the lightning rod, coughing up blood as the it went through his vital organs and the stone containing Feather fell to the ground.
Everything that happened after that was hazy and more than a little hard to perceive over the burning sensation of having a sharp object running through him, but Hyoubu definitely felt Gilliam jerking the rod and it smarted a lot more than he thought it would, that bastard. "Slice him up! We can use his body to improve the clones!" was what Hyoubu heard, and it was with some satisfaction and a lot of willpower that he could even manage a retort as if he wasn't in fact dying from his wound. "I don't think so. Don't get carried away, kid!" Yet he was also anxious, for Feather had not yet made a move and the only one he could count on right now was Goddess, always the most reliable of the lot. "Hurry...what are you doing!"
His powers could only help to prevent the wound from quickly becoming fatal, and he was relieved when he finally felt the sensation of being teleported elsewhere. Gilliam was of course still having the delusional idea that he could stop Hyoubu's escape by interfering, and he mustered his strength one last time to put a rest to that childish thought. "You can't," he stated bluntly as if talking to a little kid. "This teleporation has no reappearance coordinates. The coordinates I'm being sent to..." But that was all he had to say, blacking out from blood loss right as he was about to finish his sentence.
And then there was nothing as his body vanished, almost as if Major Hyoubu Kyousuke had simply ceased to exist.
Mindset:
The short story is that Hyoubu is always going to hate this place and be in denial about being dead. He'll initially suspect that this is a trap laid out by Black Phantom, but the facts simply don't add up and he was supposed to have been teleported to imaginary space, a place that transcends boundaries much like Monad happens to play out.
With that being said Hyoubu's more than aware that no one ever does a deed like letting the dead play together without some reason behind it and he'll oppose Monad to the last, seeking out every last bit of information that he can about the place since it might get in the way of his return to the real world. As for how he'd take to the other unfortunate residents of the place- what's a little pranking from a friendly ghost, eh?
The longer story is that all of this is going to bother Hyoubu a lot since he's always been thinking of the past and looking at the future, never quite being in the present except when he decides so on a whim. That there's a significant chance of his death leading to the destruction of the world will weigh heavily on him and possibly lead to him moping at the worst of times, not that he'd be keen on telling this to anyone. Oh, and he might or might not be even more petty than he usually is since that's how he deals with his frustrations but he may be persuaded to actually work with people to get out of Monad.
G̶̶l̨͡i̵͢t̷c͝͠h̕é͠s̷̷͡:
Life
- Hyoubu's lived up until now wanting to create a future where espers live free of prejudice of others and he also wishes to put a smile on the face of one Akashi Kaoru, a girl he's known as the Queen with a sad smile since he was a young boy. Seeing either of these being twisted into something darker will unsettle him, and doubly so if it's shown that his death had something to do with it
- Because he vanished at a critical point in canon and he won't be able to know if he succeeded in helping to prevent Black Phantom from advancing, anything depicting a recording of the bad future coming to pass will also affect him, especially if it's shown that his death led to this tragic ending
- Due to having died from falling and getting impaled on a lightning rod, either of this happening might make him just the tiniest bit uncomfortable
- He cares deeply about the people at P.A.N.D.R.A and is aware that they don't feel happy about how he keeps leaving them to do things that might get him killed, and he does worry that they'll get caught up in his war against Normals
- Flying! Hyoubu was told early on in his life that he could do anything and go anywhere, and he enjoys flying as a pastime
- Basically any memory of Saotome will trigger his berserk button, with the worst one being that of his commander shooting him
- High-level espers are a threat to themselves when they fall ill due to the possibility of losing control of their powers. While Hyoubu is a lot better at managing his powers than other espers, even he's not immune to this
Psyche
- Hyoubu hates himself nearly as much as he hates the people who killed him, particularly the reminder of the child he used to be would bother him
- He still carries the guilt of being too late to save his comrades, and he won't like being reminded that they'd hoped for him to fly higher than anyone else
- The thought of potential innocents and children being killed by his actions weighs on his mind as well, particularly as Hyoubu isn't the brightest when it comes to figuring out the long-term effects of his actions
Comedy
- Hyoubu doesn't seem very fond of large breasts thanks to his sister Fujiko having picked on him enough times during his childhood to cause deep-seated trauma, and it's probable that seeing something of that sort enough times will either get onto his nerves or terrify him
- He also hates losing and/or needing people's help, the more mundane task it is the more angry he's going to get if he can't do it
- He's that kind of guy who doesn't like hearing from others the kind of insults he directs at them, and it'd piss him off if it somehow got flung back at him
Canon: Zettai Karen Children, manga version
Gender: Male
Age: Approximately 83, looks 15 - 16.
History: The Ghosts of Espers Past
Personality: To say that Hyoubu Kyousuke is a contradictory man wouldn't be far off the mark, for he's lived a long life and a long life comes with many things, among them life-changing incidents that completely turn one's outlook completely on its heels.
Most people only know of him as a dangerous criminal, a powerful esper who has sworn vengeance against Normals and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. While this is something he says frequently and he's brutally murdered no less than 20 people among other crimes, it should be noted that at no point does Hyoubu attack an innocent person even if they're Normals. A short arc has him selling Neo-Clear (Like nuclear weapons, only eco-friendly) weapons to a terrorist group after he escapes prison, but while he does smile over the thought of many people dying he also remarks that the terrorists are so stupid to have so much money, only to spend it on killing people. The same arc also has him tearing through their base afterwards because they hurt a little girl, and while he says that they have to die for spoiling his good mood after having a flower sold to him it says a lot about Hyoubu that he cared enough about a Normal child to effectively cut off all future funding from terrorists.
The truth is that Hyoubu was made to be aware of the cruelty of others far too early when he was judged as a monster and shot by his Normal commander, a man he had loved as a father. He's lived all his life seeing how espers are treated by Normals and he had once been a bright-eyed optimist who thought that he could make espers be accepted as people, something he felt all too personally as he was beaten by his late father for using his powers after his esper mother died in a tragic accident. The combination of the two left him with a low sense of self-worth, as is evidenced by how eager his younger self was to please everyone whether it's humoring his sister Fujiko for the 500th time or doing his best for his commander, who told him once that his powers were what the English considered as a present and that he would always be accepted as he was within the ESP unit, that he could be anything and go anywhere.
Speaking of the present, Hyoubu lives life in a way that differs from many in the sense that he seems to always be looking to the future or reflecting on the past, never quite being in the present. He constantly calls The Children by their future titles as an example and treats their supervisor Minamoto with hostility for another, all because he's seen what they'll become and do in the future. At the same time he's is also a man given to past sentiments as he has a long memory, even once helping an esper he recognizes as a Comerican soldier from World War 2 because he recalls crashing the man's plane and causing his esper abilities to activate.
This unique outlook of his manifests in many ways through canon, such as when he constantly reminds the people of P.A.N.D.R.A that The Children will lead them someday or he speaks of himself being a ghost of the past, and it's impossible to understand why without knowing his history. Having been enlisted in the army since he was 7 and seeing a prediction afterwards that would show a war-torn Tokyo and a sad woman apologizing to him for being unable to do anything, it can be said that the young boy has never quite known what it means to live life as it is since he was fighting even back then to make a world a happier place for espers. And as for his remarks about being a ghost of the past, it has been said before that he stopped growing when he was shot- indeed, Hyoubu makes it a point to keep his physical body at the age when he died and the high school uniform he wears is in dedication to his fallen comrades; he had been loaned one such uniform once for he didn't have proper mourning clothes, and he was noted to not have prepared any in the hopes that no one else would die. He hasn't stopped mourning for them since then, and it's notable that one of the only characters he considers to be his friend is a flying squirrel called Momotarou, who's also from World War 2 and a victim of experimentation.
It's hard for people who are not familiar with his entire life's story to understand and sympathize with him though, for one simple reason: Hyoubu is also a troll, a major annoyance, a stalker, a sadist, an immature child and a generally terrible person.
One of the first things he declares when he meets Minamoto is his intention to take Kaoru as a bride and his antics only get more outrageous after that, ranging from hypnotizing Minamoto into seeing The Children as adult women to rile him up, to cheerfully tucking into duck confit and gushing about how good it is in front of a starving Minamoto and Sakaki while he's making himself comfortable in his ship several thousand miles away. He delights in making people beg for his help too and makes no secret out of how he enjoys seeing people being humiliated by him, but nothing is ever quite simple with Hyoubu and he does help said people in the end, even if his brand of help is typically twisted and no one's quite sure if they still want it after he's done with them.
Hyoubu is also nearly constantly hanging around The Children or watching his people conducting missions, and he's only all too happy to poke his nose into places where he doesn't belong so long as something interesting is there. As he's once said to the terrorists he later killed he'll go anywhere he likes and kill anyone he dislikes, something which he took pleasure in by lovingly describing the ways in which a minute change in a human's body is enough to kill them. Pictures of the men he murdered decades ago include gruesome details such as being teleported through a pole, and one of Hyoubu's favorite tactics involves trapping people in layers of hypno, making them believe that they'd defeated him before finishing them off. All of these sound much like describing an immature child with a twisted personality, and to a large extent Hyoubu is indeed just that. He's known to act on his whims more than enough times to frustrate his followers, such as when he randomly decides to borrow a Roviet hospital after telling his right-hand man to prepare his ship for a surgery.
It can't be stated enough that Hyoubu is a massive hypocrite, on top of everything else. He absolutely hates having people do to him what he does to them, is quick to get angry when he gets exactly what he deserves for his pranks, has little issue criticizing people for doing what he does, and he also does bizarre things like not killing the Normals who tried to kill the espers underneath his care in spite of repeating over and over again that Normals can die for all he cares. Yet the biggest hypocrisy of all involves his subordinates, who he claims to trust but who are kept in the dark in regards to his darker actions; as an example, not even his three executives knew he was going to tackle Black Phantom on his own until it had already happened and the only one who happened to hear about it was knocked out by him before she could attempt to stop him.
Observant people might notice that his actions have a certain consistency to them, in that they seem to be largely reactionary, involve high risk to himself and stem from a lack of trust. Hyoubu hung onto his commander's words as a child which couldn't be more different from his current self, being that he's now a highly skilled hacker who can break through any survelliance system and he mentions that it's frightening how Phantom Daughter was able to conceal herself so well all while treating him like a child. Being betrayed as he did and losing nearly all his friends within a short time has left Hyoubu with severe emotional scars that continue to hurt even today, and indeed it makes far more sense to look at the way he acts from the point of view of a frightened child than that of an angry one, as espers in his world are known to construct mental barriers and Hyoubu happens to be one of the most powerful espers in his world.
Fear has been a constant negative in Hyoubu's life and it shows particularly in the way he treats Minamoto. He's happiest when Minamoto is chiding him and calling him names, while paradoxically getting angry when the man praises him even if he just said that he was being a nice person by doing some good deed. The reason for this is due to Minamoto being more than just the man who shoots Kaoru after taking care of her for 10 years- he also reminds Hyoubu of Saotome in a way, and in his mind they're so similar that he happens to get a nightmare when Minamoto touches him once while he's unconscious, monologuing afterwards that he probably had that dream because of being touched and that it genuinely pisses him off. He's also said to Kaoru that 'the man who shot him' said that he would always had a place to belong, and in the end all of them are the same- Normals who would treat espers with care, only to make use of them before killing them.
It's also led to Hyoubu developing no sense of self-worth besides boastful bragging about his abilities and mocking people by calling them things like 'Idiot four eyes' and 'Quack', since there was no one to help him love himself as a person and he's always been used in one way or another. He's been called out numerous times for risking his life but everything falls on deaf ears since Hyoubu insists that he's doing everything for the future. He tends to mention too that he's but a ghost of the past who's only living until now to accomplish his goals whatever they are, and he also knows sadly that the future itself may not have a place for him as he's old and he's never once seen himself in the predictions shown to him. Hyoubu is notorious for being adamant about who he is in this regard, and a chance remark by a left-behind figment of his friend Utsumi about how even ghosts need a future has him dismissing said friend, remarking that they're not that much different from each other.
This in itself leads back to the tragedy where Hyoubu was shot dead by his commander, his time having 'stopped' since then. He doesn't consider himself as someone who's alive in the figurative sense and as such feels that it'd be better if he's the only one who needs to die instead of the espers who live in the present, and a direct contrast can be seen between him and his sister Fujiko as she's constantly changing her clothes from one appearance to another while he's maintained the same haircut and black school uniforms for decades, grousing whenever his executives try to badger him into putting on something new. Though Fujiko mentions that they're both ghosts of the past who don't know what else to do, the most significant difference between them is that she chose to forgive the people who ordered her unit executed so that she could prevent such a thing from happening again while Hyoubu could not, having chosen to stay as he was, full of anger, grief and regrets.
Yet for the hatred that he has for the world that continues to discriminate against espers simply for having powers, it would be far too simplistic to say that this is all there is to know about him. Most people know only of P.A.N.D.R.A as a criminal esper organization, but bad news travels quickly and it could be said that P.A.N.D.R.A is more of a safe haven for espers to be who they truly are, as opposed to being trodden on by society, especially considering that Hyoubu invests a lot of money into saving orphaned and abandoned esper children and that he takes great risks to get them to safety. Rumors also abound that he rescues them just to make use of them, but this is again false and Hyoubu offers each child a chance to either take revenge or live a normal life, and that he'll support them no matter what they choose.
Kaoru remarks once that "Kyousuke looks so sad...but he has such kind eyes", and for better or worse this kindness is the side that the espers under his care are used to seeing. All the kids under his care seem to like him very much and it's only when they grow up that he starts teasing them lightly, but even then never to the extent he'd do to someone he doesn't quite like. Helping to save and raise espers appears to be one of the few things Hyoubu can find true joy in besides reading, playing games and flying, and it's easy to see why since all of P.A.N.D.R.A's espers have come from worse conditions than he did as a child yet they've become reasonably well-adjusted, if a bit too liberal with using their powers since his rules are lax and they don't obey the rules of society being members of a criminal organization. Even Fujiko is forced to concede that Hyoubu seems changed somewhat when he talks about how he feels seeing his kids wanting to go to a Normal school: From there it's clear that he wouldn't mind seeing a future where Normals and espers can live together peacefully, but that he will ensure that the espers win if that conflict is unavoidable and he honestly can't believe that such a dream can be achieved.
His actions still speak otherwise though, especially in regards to Black Phantom. He fully agrees that their services are wanted by many and that they provide something that people want, only to wind up smashing much of their goods because there's little that he hates more than seeing espers being abused even if getting rid of Black Phantom means preventing the rise of the Queen he saw many years back. As much of a vindictive bastard Hyoubu can be at the worst of times, this single action proves that he's selfless and he would gladly put aside his petty little conflicts and even his war if it meant that espers could finally be free. This is again confirmed by how he changes his mind and entrusts his life to Feather shortly before being killed, likely realizing that the someone who had arranged for her to return to the past had thought the same way too as no one but himself could have come up with such a plan.
In the end it's this kindness that led to the esper dolphins showing Hyoubu the vision of the future many years, for the variation of the future where he swears revenge on Normals held an interesting thing which they would come to know as P.A.N.D.R.A. The myth of Pandora states that a woman by the name of Pandora opened a box that she was not supposed to touch and released the world's evils, shutting the box again only to hear a tiny voice calling out. That voice belonged to none other than Hope, a a beautiful force that could heal the injuries left by the evils that came before it. Saotome may have only seen the potential evil lurking in Hyoubu once upon a time because that was all he chose to see but that is simply not the truth about Hyoubu Kyousuke, for even today he lives not for anger or for revenge, but to give hope to espers and to put a smile on the sad face of the Queen who has had his heart from the start.
-- Relationships (A summary, at least) --
Akashi Kaoru aka 'Queen of Catastrophe':
No one's more important to Hyoubu than his Queen, and it's not hard to see why when he's known about her since he was a child. The tricky part is in sorting out whether he likes Kaoru more as a child much like himself who loves all espers or if he worships her because he sincerely believes that she'll succeed in saving all the espers where he failed to do so, but the one thing that's certain is that he hates the thought of hurting her to the point of nearly getting himself killed by taking one of her blows head-on when she cried upon seeing him attempting to kill his sister.
Kaoru is likewise the most welcoming member of The Children when it comes to him, being one of the only people currently who calls him by his first name and generally more forgiving of his antics than anyone else. While this can be attributed to her status as the Queen of espers which predisposes her to loving all of them, she's also noticed that he seems sad yet has kind eyes.
Things are a bit more complicated than that though, and while Hyoubu certainly doesn't have questionable thoughts for Kaoru he's modified her memory once when she happened to help P.A.N.D.R.A only to see them destroying a plane and there's the matter of him always calling her the Queen in spite of her insistence that she's not going to lead P.A.N.D.R.A- Then again, who knows what lies ahead?
The Children in general (Kaoru, Aoi, Shiho):
While Hyoubu's just fond of espers in general he also happens to hold The Children in especially high regard since they're destined to be the future rulers of espers, and due to this he's honestly kind of a doormat to them. Aoi and Shiho are more suspicious of him since he's done many questionable things to Minamoto, but in some senses they also know that he really doesn't intend to harm them and likes them- besides this, there's been moments where he's been willing to show them things Minamoto wouldn't or couldn't since he believes that children should be allowed to mature and it's not good to keep them completely sheltered.
Oh, also he took them to a theme park once and it didn't end very well.
Tsubomi Fujiko:
The long and short of it is that they have a love-hate relationship, not the least as their respective groups oppose one another. Hyoubu's always considered Fujiko to be an annoying older sister from the time they met since she was constantly bullying him and pulling him around, but he likes that she's simply being honest with herself and he does say to her that the memories of the time they had together are ones he considers precious even now- even when he did attempt to kill her once, Hyoubu makes it no secret that he won't make her death be painful and he's aware that Fujiko would have done the same were she in his place since their ideological differences have grown far apart.
Another interesting thing about their relationship is that Hyoubu still calls Fujiko by her given name while she calls him by his surname or full name instead of his first name as she used to: She'd promised him once that they would always be together, but his action of murdering B.A.B.E.L's staff is something she considers to be a betrayal and she can only distance herself by not using his first name: Furthermore, while Fujiko still believes Hyoubu can be saved she can't allow herself to grow soft on him when her failure to rescue him back then still weighs heavily on her, remembering the sweet child he used to be.
Koichi Minamoto:
Hyoubu started out really hating Minamoto thinking that he was just another Saotome in the making, but his feelings would change gradually when repeated attempts to tempt Minamoto into doing something bad failed, even resulting in him making a lifetime offer to reverse Minamoto to the age of 12 once so that they could avert the prediction of him shooting Kaoru. That being said little love is lost between the two as Hyoubu happens to enjoy harassing Minamoto all the time and Minamoto happens to hate being harassed by Hyoubu, but as time passes by Hyoubu is beginning to find it hard to justify the things he does to help Minamoto when he shouldn't want to do so by logic, which basically means that he ends up harassing the man even more since he can't figure out why he's helping a Normal four-eyes idiot beyond The Children liking him so much.
It should also be noted that Minamoto is the only one who gets hit by Hyoubu for saying something nice to him, again largely a violent reaction since it reminds Hyoubu of his former commander...or you could call it tsundere, because it honest to goodness is literally that.
Momotarou:
Not actually a person, but an esper flying squirrel! He and Momotarou have gotten along nicely from the start as Momotarou was also betrayed during World War 2 and Hyoubu trusts Momotarou so much that Momotarou's also one of the few characters to call him Kyousuke, and the two are frequently seen together whether they're searching for something interesting, bickering or are contemplating the past together.
P.A.N.D.R.A in general:
Arguably Hyoubu's greatest pride. He especially treasures the kids and is genuinely happy when playing with them, and he differs from a lot of parents in being fairly liberal about how they live. He also refuses to take them into battle and only teaches them how to use their powers so that they can eventually master it.
As for his top executives Magi, Momiji and Yo, Hyoubu trusts them a lot more than everyone else but he still leaves them in the dark about certain plans. He also likes teasing them and making fun of them, because a family's no fun if you can't tease your relatives.
The former ESP unit and Saotome:
Not much to be said except that Hyoubu really misses them and he still carries the burden of their deaths, fondly recalling how they'd thought they could be anything and go anywhere when he had been a much innocent boy.
Saotome though. To cut a long story short Hyoubu loved the man with all his heart until that led to him getting shot, and he still hates everything to do with Saotome even now.
Powers/Abilities:
Hyoubu is a high-level multiple-power esper, and his abilities are as follows:
Psychokinesis: Essentially the ability to manipulate physical matter by applying psychic force, psychokinesis has a very wide range of application, ranging from creating a shield to protect one from blasts to allowing a high-level psychokinesis user to defy gravity, allowing them to fly.
Hyoubu is noted to be extremely gifted and precise with this ability, to the point that he can retain his youth by reversing the telomeres in his DNA.
Hypno: The ability to create illusions and affect another person's senses- at high levels, hypno users can also take over a person’s perceptions, as this ability also works on altering chemicals within the target’s body. Hypno also has a wide range of application, from allowing its user to disguise themselves to sealing a person’s memories.
It should be noted that hypno is more effective against people with negative emotions or when the victim is shown what they want to see, and it’s only half as effective against a strong-willed person or a person being shown something contrary to how they’d act.
It’s also possible to trap a person in multiple layers of hypno illusions ala Inception, and this is one of Hyoubu’s favorite tactics.
Teleportation: The most advanced psychic ability, which allows an esper to calculate their coordinates and instantaneously move through space to reach their location. Teleporters also possess high spatial cognizance, and as such can locate hidden objects even without being able to see it.
Psychometry: The ability to scan one’s surroundings and analyze every detail about an object or person through touch, such as memories and thoughts. This ability also allows psychometry users to attune themselves to an object, instantly learning how to use said object to the best of its ability, and they can additionally ‘dive’ into a person’s memories.
Telepathy: The ability to read and transmit thoughts through means other than conventional communication. Line of sight is apparently needed for Hyoubu to read a person’s thoughts and he can only read surface-level thoughts, but he can do it over a long distance and additionally communicate telepathically to a non-telepath if they’re in contact with him.
Pyrokinesis: As it says on the tin, the ability to generate and manipulate fire.
Electrokinesis: The ability to generate and manipulate electricity, particularly gifted users can also use it to heal themselves from certain injuries and speed up healing by manipulating electric currents within their body.
Bodily control: An off-shoot of Hyoubu’s psychokinesis, this kicks in passively when his vital functions drop (Like if say he’s knocked out) and prevents his physiological functions from being cut off entirely to an extent. He can also use this actively to fix injuries such as cracked ribs.
Besides this he’s been shown to be capable of absorbing the abilities of other espers, providing two conditions are fulfilled: One, that they have a close bond with him. Two, that they must have died in front of him.
Keepsakes/Mementos:
- Uniforms of this kind
- A worn pocket watch, left by his late father
- A notebook detailing the records of his late mother, particularly in regards to her psychic abilities
- A pod that should contain the brain of a dead dolphin, only it’s empty
- A tin of Sakuma drops, along with assorted forms of candy
- A photo of him with his former comrades from the ESP squad
- A piece of headgear with goggles broken on the right side, which belonged to his squad leader
- Books, especially that relating to psychic studies, physics, biology, history, mystery and science fiction
- Photos of the P.A.N.D.R.A members at various ages, all depicting occasions such as birthdays
Sample:
Hyoubu had loved the idea of flying since he was a child and it was no different today, not even when the fate of the world was at stake. If at anything he would say that only made things more interesting, with the joy of battle being one of the few pleasures he could have nowadays.
Countless helicopters hovered behind the esper and his companion Feather, ready to nullify everyone's powers at a single command from the boy in front of him. Gilliam, son of Black Phantom, an international organization that brainwashed espers and cloned them for a living...he was still smiling fearlessly even though killing Hyoubu would mean killing himself too.
And Hyoubu fully intended on wiping that smug smile off his face.
"I see, so I'll die too if I have all psychic powers sealed off. But...what do you plan on doing?" There was some more pointless lines from Gilliam about how his life meant nothing in comparison to his goals and Feather's surprised face at his grin, both things that gave Hyoubu just enough time to devise a plan.
"Then...I will give you pain that makes death pale in comparison," he replied, smirking as he did so. What came next was laughably predictable and to be expected of dull Normals who knew little of combat and grew to be overly dependent on expensive tools, cries of activating the limiters being contradicted by orders to remain on standby until further instruction. Hyoubu floated lazily towards the other man while his soldiers were busy arguing, which prompted Gilliam to ask if he was going to be tortured.
"One wrong move and the ECMs will-"
"No, no," Hyoubu interrupted, coming to a stop right behind Gilliam. "It's just that your eyebrows are so thick and disgusting." There was a saying that insults weren't insults if it were true, and the comment was soon to be followed by a snide remark about how Gilliam's hair must have been done by a barber who could barely contain his laughter while lying about the haircut. "And those ridiculous clothes! What are you, a groom?" Hearing Gilliam's counters to his remarks only made him laugh even more, all while ignoring that last remark about how he had no right to make fun of anyone else's fashion sense. Even Gilliam's men seemed to agree with his observations, but as amusing as it was the banter was really just the opening act.
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Ah, the boy was clearly keen on ending this quickly while he still had the advantage, but Hyoubu had better ideas than to simply let himself get captured. The jokes were simply a means to getting close to Gilliam, and he never once let the other's expression out of his sight as he spoke next. "You said your life has no value compared to your dream, but that's not true...is it? To be more accurate, isn't it that your life has no value compared to that of your little sister?" Gone was the mocking tone he'd used earlier, replaced by something more low and sinister. It was simply all too easy for him to picture, for the sister was the one with truly impressive hypnosis abilities while her brother could only manage considerable power when linked to other espers. Yet it was the dull emptiness of Gilliam's eyes that revealed more about him than anything else he had said. How could he not know what lay behind those eyes after all, when it was so similar to that of his own- dead eyes that hid the insanity of those who tried their hardest to be valued when they were clearly not wanted, with one having his wings broken and the other yearning to fly when he never had any?
The esper moved even closer so that only Gilliam could hear his next words, and as he leaned in to whisper he could have looked for all the world as if he were having an intimate conversation with a lover. "You only got this chance at commanding the center stage because Yuuri ran away, didn't you? You are nothing more than a worthless esper, who was only of any use after plenty of money and technology was poured into you...my intuition tells me that there was one thing you were often called as you grew up...useless." He left no pauses in between to be interrupted and the last word was said more loudly than the others so it couldn't be simply ignored. As he was he didn't want that word to be ignored since Gilliam was absolutely useless and no amount of abusing or cloning espers was going to change the fact that he would always be playing second fiddle to his sister. "It's quite sad, really. The one thing you truly wanted was-"
"Kill him. Kill him now! Activate the ECMs! Do it!"
The effects of the ECMs were immediate, with Feather crying out before being forced to return to her crystal form. That too was within Hyoubu's calculations, and his head had cleared enough from his earlier rage for him to reach out and grab the crystal even as he was falling, unable to sustain his flight with his powers severely limited. It was strange how the sensation of falling should have made him feel helpless and yet he was rarely so sure of himself as he was right now, at this very moment in the present.
Feather...no, Queen! I've changed my mind. I need your help now. I leave my life, and the new future to you! The words were transmitted telepathically along with his thought waves and personality, for Hyoubu also knew that Feather must have had guidance from a certain someone to have made it into the past and he could count on that person to have taught her what to do next. There was no time to reflect past that though, for he found himself being grabbed by Gilliam soon after.
"Die! Dieeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Hyoubu knew that sentiment all too well, unable to turn away from seeing that crazed expression even as certain death awaited below them in the form of a lightning rod. There was a certain irony in dying to something so mundane after countless people had tried to kill him over the years and had failed, but there was also no time left for quips, not when he had to get a certain annoyance out of the way first.
"Cool your jets, boy," he said, grabbing Gilliam's arm and holding him just out of reach from the lightning rod. "You need to...live a bit longer." For all the cruel words he might have said, the esper truly pitied him as he and his sister had never known any love, only the cruel and twisted manipulation of an adult- Esper or not, enemy or not, there was little satisfaction in killing someone who didn't even realize how empty his life was. And that was all he could manage before gravity caught up to him and he wound up on the sharp end of the lightning rod, coughing up blood as the it went through his vital organs and the stone containing Feather fell to the ground.
Everything that happened after that was hazy and more than a little hard to perceive over the burning sensation of having a sharp object running through him, but Hyoubu definitely felt Gilliam jerking the rod and it smarted a lot more than he thought it would, that bastard. "Slice him up! We can use his body to improve the clones!" was what Hyoubu heard, and it was with some satisfaction and a lot of willpower that he could even manage a retort as if he wasn't in fact dying from his wound. "I don't think so. Don't get carried away, kid!" Yet he was also anxious, for Feather had not yet made a move and the only one he could count on right now was Goddess, always the most reliable of the lot. "Hurry...what are you doing!"
His powers could only help to prevent the wound from quickly becoming fatal, and he was relieved when he finally felt the sensation of being teleported elsewhere. Gilliam was of course still having the delusional idea that he could stop Hyoubu's escape by interfering, and he mustered his strength one last time to put a rest to that childish thought. "You can't," he stated bluntly as if talking to a little kid. "This teleporation has no reappearance coordinates. The coordinates I'm being sent to..." But that was all he had to say, blacking out from blood loss right as he was about to finish his sentence.
And then there was nothing as his body vanished, almost as if Major Hyoubu Kyousuke had simply ceased to exist.
Mindset:
The short story is that Hyoubu is always going to hate this place and be in denial about being dead. He'll initially suspect that this is a trap laid out by Black Phantom, but the facts simply don't add up and he was supposed to have been teleported to imaginary space, a place that transcends boundaries much like Monad happens to play out.
With that being said Hyoubu's more than aware that no one ever does a deed like letting the dead play together without some reason behind it and he'll oppose Monad to the last, seeking out every last bit of information that he can about the place since it might get in the way of his return to the real world. As for how he'd take to the other unfortunate residents of the place- what's a little pranking from a friendly ghost, eh?
The longer story is that all of this is going to bother Hyoubu a lot since he's always been thinking of the past and looking at the future, never quite being in the present except when he decides so on a whim. That there's a significant chance of his death leading to the destruction of the world will weigh heavily on him and possibly lead to him moping at the worst of times, not that he'd be keen on telling this to anyone. Oh, and he might or might not be even more petty than he usually is since that's how he deals with his frustrations but he may be persuaded to actually work with people to get out of Monad.
G̶̶l̨͡i̵͢t̷c͝͠h̕é͠s̷̷͡:
Life
- Hyoubu's lived up until now wanting to create a future where espers live free of prejudice of others and he also wishes to put a smile on the face of one Akashi Kaoru, a girl he's known as the Queen with a sad smile since he was a young boy. Seeing either of these being twisted into something darker will unsettle him, and doubly so if it's shown that his death had something to do with it
- Because he vanished at a critical point in canon and he won't be able to know if he succeeded in helping to prevent Black Phantom from advancing, anything depicting a recording of the bad future coming to pass will also affect him, especially if it's shown that his death led to this tragic ending
- Due to having died from falling and getting impaled on a lightning rod, either of this happening might make him just the tiniest bit uncomfortable
- He cares deeply about the people at P.A.N.D.R.A and is aware that they don't feel happy about how he keeps leaving them to do things that might get him killed, and he does worry that they'll get caught up in his war against Normals
- Flying! Hyoubu was told early on in his life that he could do anything and go anywhere, and he enjoys flying as a pastime
- Basically any memory of Saotome will trigger his berserk button, with the worst one being that of his commander shooting him
- High-level espers are a threat to themselves when they fall ill due to the possibility of losing control of their powers. While Hyoubu is a lot better at managing his powers than other espers, even he's not immune to this
Psyche
- Hyoubu hates himself nearly as much as he hates the people who killed him, particularly the reminder of the child he used to be would bother him
- He still carries the guilt of being too late to save his comrades, and he won't like being reminded that they'd hoped for him to fly higher than anyone else
- The thought of potential innocents and children being killed by his actions weighs on his mind as well, particularly as Hyoubu isn't the brightest when it comes to figuring out the long-term effects of his actions
Comedy
- Hyoubu doesn't seem very fond of large breasts thanks to his sister Fujiko having picked on him enough times during his childhood to cause deep-seated trauma, and it's probable that seeing something of that sort enough times will either get onto his nerves or terrify him
- He also hates losing and/or needing people's help, the more mundane task it is the more angry he's going to get if he can't do it
- He's that kind of guy who doesn't like hearing from others the kind of insults he directs at them, and it'd piss him off if it somehow got flung back at him